Shock Therapy

"While in Rome they pondered what to do, the city of Saguntum
was vanquished by enemies," intoned an impassioned Salvatore
Cardinal Pappalardo, borrowing a line from the Roman historian
Sallust. In his own words, Pappalardo added: "Yet this time it is not
Saguntum, but Palermo! Our poor Palermo!"

It was the harshest indictment yet of the Rome government's inability to
halt the epidemic of brutal criminal violence that has gripped Italy in
recent years. The Archbishop of Palermo was presiding over a highly
emotional memorial service for Carabinieri General Carlo Alberto...